The Iowa House approved an increase of about $32 million in state aid for K-12 public schools Wednesday, but the Iowa Senate amended the measure a few hours later and passed a bill with $46 million in additional spending for the coming school year.

The Senate's action leaves both Republican-controlled chambers at odds, and it means House File 2230 must return to the House for consideration. The amendment provides about $14 million in extra money to address inequities in school aid between school districts and inequities in school transportation funding.

The Senate vote on the overall bill was 29-21. All Republicans were in favor while all 20 Democrats were opposed, along with Sen. David Johnson, an independent from Ocheyedan. The House approved its version 57-40.

Both chambers had partisan debates, with Republicans saying they are fulfilling pledges to maintain K-12 schools as a funding priority, while Democrats charged Iowa's schools are being hurt by the GOP's mismanagement of the state's budget. However, the Senate amendment addressing school district inequities passed unanimously, with praise from Democrats and Republicans.

“House File 2230 fulfills the commitment that many of us made to our school districts to set (per-pupil funding) early on in this legislative session," said Rep. Cecil Dolecheck, R-Mount Ayr, the bill's floor manager. "This will enable our schools to finalize their budgets in a timely manner."

Democrats labeled the 1 percent increase as inadequate. The total cost of the school aid bill is about $3.2 billion, representing one of the largest expenses in the state's budget.

"I love how Republicans oftentimes low-ball numbers and told everybody this fall, 'Oh, it’s going to be zero percent,' " said Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City. "And so when you give them 1 percent, they think it’s a gift. It is not. The under-funding of education must stop."

Republicans contend that a 1 percent increase in basic school aid is all the state can afford for public schools during the coming academic year.

"I’m proud of the numbers that we have put forth and what we’re doing for education," said House Education Committee Chairman Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls. "In an economy that’s been stagnant for the last eight years, we’re doing good things. We’re not only putting money towards it, we’re allowing schools to use the dollars they already have in a more flexible way."

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said 55 percent of Iowa's school districts will face property tax increases under the bill approved by the Senate. He complained there are "ominous signs" that Iowa's education system is starting to slip, citing declines in measures of academic achievement.

Quirmbach also suggested it will be difficult for state officials to follow through on promises to focus on STEM education, an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math, which is seen as a method to train a skilled workforce for higher-paying jobs.

"This bill simply does not get the job done," Quirmbach said.

But Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, the Senate bill's floor manager, pointed to years in the past when Democratic lawmakers had supported larger increases in school aid only, to see them reduced by across-the-board cuts as state revenues plunged.

"This is a promise that can be kept," Sinclair said.

Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, criticized Republicans for what he termed as a "systemic underfunding of our schools" that is negatively affecting both urban and rural school districts.

"We will continue to see budget crisis after budget crisis until we deal with the real root of the problem," Boulton said. He attributed it to "an overextension on tax credits, exemptions and giveaways" to businesses that is creating an ongoing problem that must be dealt with.

Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, cited a number of local education bond referendums that passed Tuesday night as evidence of Iowans' commitment to funding education over and above what the Legislature has approved.

Ankeny voters approved an $18 million bond to build a new elementary school by a vote of 2,091-298, according to unofficial election results from the Polk County Auditor's Office. And in Waukee, voters approved a $117 million bond to build a second high school by a vote of 2,988-322, according to unofficial election results from the Dallas County Auditor's Office.

"Despite this body’s lack of commitment to public education, by and large, the voters of Iowa continue to want to make investments into their public education system, as demonstrated by yesterday’s results," Prichard said. "I wish this body was in tune with the value that regular Iowans put on public education in this state."

"While we have cut staff for three consecutive years, we have been able to do so without pink-slipping teachers, and we think we’ll be able to accomplish that again, thanks in part to the retirement incentive that we offered last fall," he said.

In the Urbandale and Ankeny school districts, officials said a 1 percent increase is not ideal but would not force cuts.

"After nine years of inadequate funding for schools, yeah, it’ll put a challenge on us," said Urbandale Superintendent Steve Bass. "But we’re not at a place yet where we’ll have to make cuts in services or personnel. It is very tight. ... If it continues then yeah, at some point class sizes will probably go up and we'll have to look in our cycles as far as curriculum."

House Republicans have also unveiled a separate plan they say is intended to supplement per-pupil funding. That plan would devote $10 million to equalize school transportation costs and extend a one-cent sales tax that is expected to provide billions of dollars for school infrastructure projects over 20 years.

The one-cent sales tax, known as SAVE, is set to expire in 2029. It is used to create a revenue stream that school districts can use to issue bonds to finance new construction projects and upgrade classroom technology.

The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it estimates a 20-year extension of that tax would generate between $15.45 billion and $16.12 billion for school districts statewide.

Metro school districts said that proposal, in particular, is likely to benefit them.

Samantha Kampman, a spokeswoman for Ankeny Community School District, said Ankeny schools will need to add five to six buildings in the coming years and that an extension of that tax would be a "critical component of that planning."

"We are working to plan the funding structures for each of these buildings strategically, so we don't have to take general obligation bonds to our community every one to two years," Kampman said.

Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said none of the superintendents in his district were "jumping up and down and doing cartwheels" about a 1 percent per-pupil increase, but they were pleased with the overall package of funding that included the transportation and sales tax proposals.

"They said if you can do some of these other things, we can be comfortable with 1 percent, and that’s something that will work in our rural school districts," Grassley said.